So why do we insist on spending time
In dismal lands – far from the spirit –
Even though, from birth, we possess a passport into the world of the Good?

Yes, it’s true that agitation and sleeplessness
Are fruits of a spiritual disease –
But in God’s medicine chest
Every single pill, elixir, and cream – all “natural,” by definition –
Can cure anything.

Long ago, when God began calling human beings
To come home –
They didn’t hear because they had been listening to something else.

The ones who did hear became the elect – the chosen ones –
But, those who, for some reason, didn’t,
Spent most of their time and energy enhancing the “fantastic” in their lives –
Because that’s all they were capable of experiencing at the time.

Here, in the First World, minds are the highest-valued aspect of humanity –

A splendid mind, as a great analytical tool, can get you into the Ivy League
And, later, qualify you for the top one percent.

Nevertheless, we are not minds alone – we’re not simply mental tools.

Minds, over a lengthy period of time, develop in a surrounding cultural sea –
And take on the “color” and “imprint” of their birth society.

In order to get outside our socially-cultivated mind and gain the freedom
To think and feel objectively,
Paradoxically, we have to get “out of our minds” –
Which, of course, may cause problems –
But these will not be too serious
When we start thinking through God’s infinitely greater mind –
Resorting to our “no mind” –
Which enables us to observe the world, as well as our own minds,
Critically – “from the outside.”

Later, however, when we’ve actually gone ahead and lost our minds –
We’ll find we also need to lose our names as well –

Great poets desire to express the inexpressible
And that’s why the greatest of them – spiritual amateurs all –
Reach for the Divine.

Early on, Christianity got rid of spontaneous poets
And replaced them with orthodox priests and ministers –
And this is why, eventually, Christianity evolved into a religion of rationality –
A religion without fresh poetic inspiration.

People on a long journey towards the holy, however,Want their favorite poets free to “sing” to God
Because they understand that spontaneity
Is essential in expressing spiritual truths.

Once they’d given up holy ecstatic singing,
Western poets, over time, increasingly became colorless and dull –
Proving that poets need the energy that can be imbibed
From the “living juices” of a “living God.”

In other words, artists (which all true poets are)Require a subject matter that is “colorful” – “packed with life” –
Like the Divine (the “face” of God)
And Nature (the “back” of God).

In sum, to have the experience of God remain “fresh” –
God needs poets who are willing to reach out to the Divine –